Capstone Guidelines

It really depends on your research interests, what you want out of your capstone experience, who you want on your committee, and your plans after graduation.

For further information regarding the differences between a project and a thesis, see Project vs. Thesis.

• The ability to competently synthesize information with examples, theories, or facts from more than one field of study or learning context, and to reconcile competing arguments.
• Command of the current literature of your relevant field(s) and the ability to situate original work within that literature.
• The ability to frame an interesting research problem and develop an appropriate yet creative methodology to address it.
• The ability to collect published data appropriate to your research problem and apply it in a practical or creative way (project); or the ability to collect original data appropriate to your research problem and interpret in an innovative way (thesis).
• The ability to craft a coherent argument and support it with well-organized evidence that reveals insightful patterns, differences, or similarities.
• The ability to present research orally and in writing in a rigorous and professionally competent manner.
• The ability to produce work with good potential for implementation, exhibition, or production (project); or good potential for publication and/or admission to a doctoral program (thesis).

Any methodology and type of source material is possible, so long as it is consistent with the design and learning outcomes of your degree.

The topics students have addressed are as varied as the concentrations available and the interests of the individual students within the program. For examples of topics within each concentration, please see "A Sampling of Previous Capstone Topics."

There is nothing explicitly off the table. The key is to acquire appropriate subject matter expertise through your courses and experiential learning, cultivate faculty support for your ideas, and defend your approach in your research proposal.

A formal framing statement (overview of the problem addressed by the deliverable, literature review, and discussions of methodology and significance) is always required.

Deliverables have included curricula, white papers, workshops, business plans, and creative works.

Students should not anticipate being allowed to produce a creative work (like a piece of art, music, or theater) unless it is explicitly required by the design of their individualized degree.

In rare cases and with the special approval of a student’s concentration head, a project can include an original creative work, such as a documentary film, a fictional film, or a script. However, the student must have graduate-level training in the creative mode of the deliverable and include at least one professional in the field on their project committee. For example, a student who chooses to write a script as part of their capstone project should have graduate training in playwriting and include a professional playwright on their project committee.

• Discuss potential topics with your fellow students, your concentration head, and other faculty mentors. .
• Take courses that will give you the subject matter expertise required for you to be authoritative in your capstone topic.
• Research appropriate library resources and start compiling the literature that will inform your capstone.
• Take a research methods course to help you develop a methodology appropriate to your interests.
• Assemble a project or thesis committee. Identify a committee chair and other members of your committee to mentor you.
• Take MAIS 797- Interdisciplinary Studies Proposal. MAIS 797 provides a structured environment in which students work on their proposals with the MAIS 797 instructor and the student's project/thesis committee chair. The course culminates in the presentation of the research project/thesis proposal to an audience of peers and professors.
• For advice from an alumni on preparing for your Capstone, read "Student Perspective on Preparing for Your Capstone."